V.F. Komissarzhevskaya Theatre

The performances of this theater are widely popular among the public and theater critics. In the center of St. Petersburg, on the Italian Street adjacent to the Arts Square, surrounded by the Russian Museum and Philharmonic, the Comedy Theater and the Mikhailovsky Castle, the State Academic Drama Theater named after V.F. Komissarzhevskaya is located. His fate is unique and preserves the imprint of the stormy epochs of the last hundred and fifty years. Born in the days of the blockade, the theater is close in spirit to St. Petersburg, the only city in world history built during the Northern War. Unusual history of the theater building in which it is located. It's the famous Passage. In 1848, according to the unique project of the architect R.A. Zhelyazevich, Nevsky Prospect was connected to the Italian street by a three-tiered glass gallery, where shops and confectionery, a wax office, "mechanical and anatomical theater", "live paintings" in the upper floors, a restaurant in the basement and a large auditorium were located. Since then, St. Petersburgers did not depend on bad Baltic weather and lovingly called Passage "the living room where friends converge". Here, in the 1860s, lectures were held in the theater hall and literary and dramatic evenings were held, where great writers A. Ostrovsky, N. Nekrasov, I. Turgenev, Ya. Polonsky, A. Pisemsky, as well as university professors of history performed. In the theater hall, amateur troupes played performances. In one of the productions of the comedy by A.N. Ostrovsky "Our people - we will consider" the author himself took part. In 1900, the Passage was rebuilt, but the theater hall as a whole retained its originality. Only the entrance to the theater and the cash lobby were reconstructed: before the audience got into it from the shopping hall "Passage". Here began young directors A. Belinsky ("Millionaire" B. Shaw), I. Vladimirov ("Time to love" B. Laskin). Became actors young Emilia Popova, Alice Freundlich, Igor Dmitriev. Here shone favorites of cinema Ivan Dmitriev and Galina Korotkevich. There were good authors, including young ones - A. Galich, D. Granin, I. Dvoretsky, E. Braginsky, L. Zorin. Worked artists V. Ryndin, A. Bosulayev, M. Grigoriev, D. Leader, O. Celkov and others. Today, the genre spectrum of the repertoire is diverse. We are for all the colors of the world except black. Therefore, you will not find aggressive plays on the poster of the theater. Lyrical comedies and dramas, tragicomedy, there is even "comedy in slippers", but not hopelessly cruel.